Dakota manifolds for A body

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440randy

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I am considering installing Dakota 5.9 liter exsaust manifolds on my 1972 duster with a 360.My buddy says they work good,but im skeptical until I here your thoughts here.Im not worried about stock look, only fit and function.What is the best year dakota 5.9 liter manifolds to buy for this swap?
 
Your best bet is an A body LH early 1970s 340 360 manifold, and a jeep grand cherokee magnum RH manifold.
 
I'm using them on my 65 they work for well, but the ports don't quite match (easily fixed with a die grinder ). They exit out the back so make sure things like the speedo cable is tied away. Most of them have a 2.25" exit, but some do have 2.5", but sure which.
 
440randy said:
I am considering installing Dakota 5.9 liter exsaust manifolds on my 1972 duster with a 360.My buddy says they work good,but im skeptical until I here your thoughts here.Im not worried about stock look, only fit and function.What is the best year dakota 5.9 liter manifolds to buy for this swap?
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Ya the 340 left side is not afordable,but some say the dakota 5.9 l is a great fit for this swap at cheap.
 
Valkman, do you have a manual box or power box. I think the issue with the LH dak manifold is interference with a power steering box. If you use a borgeson power box, this will probably be a non issue, but that isnt cheap either.
 
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You want to look for the 91-92 magnum ones. These have the larger diameter exit. 93 up the PN changes and they use a smaller exit.

72-76 A body 340-360 LH manifolds are a bit easier to find than the 68-71 340 ones. I found a set of those 91-92 dak ones in my local boneyard but passed on em because of people showing pix of power steering box clearance issues.
 
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moparmat2000 said:
Valkman, do you have a manual box or power box. I think the issue with the LH dak manifold is interference with a power steering box.
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Since I have an early a it's pretty tight in there, and had shave off .020" off the manifold and I used a smaller streering coupling. I do have a manual box, and I can't speak for the later cars but if works in mine I'm pretty sure it will work.
 
By the way don't grind on manifold itself for clearance the walls are very thin, been there done that:rolleyes:
 
moparmat2000 said:
Valkman, do you have a manual box or power box. I think the issue with the LH dak manifold is interference with a power steering box. If you use a borgeson power box, this will probably be a non issue, but that isnt cheap either.
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Yes it has power steering
 
440randy Use the search function on fabo. This was talked about a few years back, there were issues I believe with these and power steering boxes.
 
moparmat2000 said:
You want to look for the 91-92 magnum ones. These have the larger 2&1/2" exit. 93 up the PN changes and they use a smaller 2&1/4" exit.

72-76 A body 340-360 LH manifolds are a bit easier to find than the 68-71 340 ones. I found a set of those 91-92 dak ones in my local boneyard but passed on em because of people showing pix of power steering box clearance issues.
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So any dakota manifolds won't fit well on my duster with stock power steering ?
 
440randy said:
So any dakota manifolds won't fit well on my duster with stock power steering ?
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440randy Dakota pickup and full size pickup magnum manifolds are I believe the same part number. Again you need to check the search function on the site. I believe there was an issue on 67-76 A body power steering cars with clearance. I dont remember 100% as it was several years ago. I believe the drivers side was either touching or uncomfortably close to touching the steering box along with associated plumbing issues with the lines. The jeep magnum RH is a center dump exit which would work better in an A body on the RH side. I believe back then guys were using the jeep RH and a 72-76 A body 340-360 LH manifold.

Hedman makes block hugger headers, however those bring their own set of problems to the table with making pipes to fit them as well. I have a set of the hedman block huggers for my 67 barracuda. The engine is in perpetual mockup phase, but they seem to exit in the right spot to clear the center link and steering arms if you have a good exhaust guy to fit pipes to em.
 
Hooker Super Comps (not "comps") fit and don't capture the steering linkage.

...but they cost the same as TTI.


I heard of someone cutting out the "sag" from the Dakota manifold (the part that interferes with the PS adjustment screw) and welding it back in upside down.
 
A body LH manifold in relation to steering box. Magnums point down not up. No room.

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Here are a couple photos that might help
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Looks like the photo moparmat2000 posted shows that it probably won't work on the power steering. I wonder if you put a right angle fitting a make a custom hose it might clear it, but is it worth it to do all that?
 
It's really a shame, they are great flowing manifolds and they sound good.
 
Im running magnum manifolds. They fit great. I am using manual steering with a floor mounted automatic. I don't think power steering would make much difference but I don't think that a column shifted auto or a linkage (zbar) manual transmission would work. The tightest spot is on the drivers side at the torsion bar. I got all kinds of pictures if your interested

20210120_145949.jpg


20210120_145920.jpg
 
YY1 said:
It's really a shame, they are great flowing manifolds and they sound good.
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They will work don't let ppl tell you they won't. Everyone told me they wouldn't and im hard-headed and didn't listen and they worked fine for my application. Now in certain situations im sure it may be a different story but for me they fit fine
 
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